sex-dependent novelty response in neurexin-1α mutant miceneurexin-1α突变老鼠sex-dependent新奇的反应.pdfVIP

Sex-Dependent Novelty Response in Neurexin-1a Mutant Mice 1 1 1,2 2,3 1 Marijke C. Laarakker , Niels R. Reinders , Hilgo Bruining , Roel A. Ophoff , Martien J. H. Kas * 1 Department of Neurosciences Pharmacology, Division of Neuroscience, Rudolf Magnus Institute, University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands, 2 Department of Psychiatry, Division of Neuroscience, Rudolf Magnus Institute, University Medical Center Utrecht, The Netherlands, 3 Center for Neurobehavioral Genetics, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America Abstract Neurexin-1 alpha (NRXN1a) belongs to the family of cell adhesion molecules (CAMs), which are involved in the formation of neuronal networks and synapses. NRXN1a gene mutations have been identified in neuropsychiatric diseases including Schizophrenia (SCZ) and Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). In order to get a better understanding of the pleiotropic behavioral manifestations caused by NRXN1a gene mutations, we performed a behavioral study of Nrxn1a heterozygous knock-out (+/ 2) mice and observed increased responsiveness to novelty and accelerated habituation to novel environments compared to wild type (+/+) litter-mates. However, this effect was mainly observed in male mice, strongly suggesting that gender-specific mechanisms play an important role in Nrxn1a-induced phenotypes. Citation: Laarakker MC, Reinders NR, Bruining H, Ophoff RA, Kas MJH (2012) Sex-Dependent Novelty Response in Neurexin-1a Mutant Mice. PLoS ONE 7(2): e31503. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0031503 Editor: Efthimios M. C. Skoulakis, Alexander Flemming Biomedical Sciences Research Center, Greece Received J